Cardinals’ Kim Kwang-hyun could join the rotation as fifth starter

The possibility is increasing that Kim Kwang-hyun of the St. Louis Cardinals might join the starting rotation of his first MLB club. With Cardinals relief pitcher Jordan Hicks boycotting the season for fear of COVID-19, Carlos Martinez, the fifth starter of the team, will likely fill the vacuum. The St. Louis Post Dispatch proposed the possibility of Martinez’s taking Hicks’ stead, stressing his experiences as closer and the plentiful pool of starters in the team. Last year, Martinez pulled off 24 saves with four wins, two losses, and 3.17 ERA as closer.

According to the Depth Chart on MLB.com, Kim has been mentioned as fifth starter material following Jack Flaherty, Dakota Hudson, Miles Mikolas, and Adam Wainwright. The opening of the season has been postponed for nearly four months owing to the outbreak of covid-19, but Kim continued to train without coming back to Korea, which was highly eval‎uated. The ZiPS baseball projections are predicting that Kim will make outings as starter in all 10 games this season with four wins, three losses, and 4.03 ERA.

On Thursday local time, Kim will throw as starting pitcher for a home match at Busch Stadium. Wainwright, who recently had personal trainings with Kim, will compete for the starter of the game. During the spring camp, the South Korean pitcher kept a clean slate over eight innings in four fixtures. The Thursday game will be crucial for Kim in his bid to get a berth in the starter rotation.


Hong-Gu Kang windup@donga.com